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Aug 17, 2013

10 year high school reunion

Tonight is my 10 year class reunion.

You know, it just seems like yesterday I was waking up to chocolate milk instead of coffee saying "Tonight is my high school graduation."

Being a senior in high school, you're constantly being told to "enjoy it - it goes by fast." You nod your head and say "Uh huh, ok... ok..." because at that point, you feel like you've been in school for what seems like forever and you're ready to move on to that next big step. Freedom.

Freedom wasn't as much freedom as you thought it would be. Mom and dad are still providing a roof over you head during the summer and still paying for a lot of your bills. They still kind of had a say of what went on in your life. Or at least they had their "say"... whether we listened or not was another story.

College was fun. It was an opportunity to learn a lot of things, discover who you really are and make some new friends. It goes by even quicker than high school. Once again, it seems just like yesterday mom and dad were moving me down to the big campus of Purdue University. And then picking me back up for the following summer. Repeat x 4.

Then, you get out of college and you're trying to knot your high school self and your college self together figuring out which direction you'd like to go next. You start your big girl job and before you know it, your dad is walking you down the aisle.

Freedom. Ah, there you are. Oh wait. Nope. Now you've started a life together with someone else. So now, not only are you trying to knot your high school self, college self, big girl job self but you're also trying to mesh your life into someone else's.

Other than a few extra years added to college due to some changes in my major, my life has almost been like clock work. Everything has fallen into place like it was always meant to be that way. I've been a pretty lucky girl with a lot of support. Very caring parents, a protective brother, friends that are like sisters and a husband who I love more than life itself. I couldn't ask for more.

No matter how hard I tried to plan my life out, it was going in the direction it was intended. There was no use running against the wind. Swimming up stream.

Sometimes I wish I could go back 10 years ago and show my 18 year old self how great life would turn out. When you're 18, you have no clue. You think you know it all. Even though I was voted one of the most likely in my class to never leave our home town, I thought for sure I would end up somewhere really far away. But I didn't. I'm 10 minutes away from my high school and 20 minutes away from my parents. I'm not a famous interior designer.

I did marry that farmer, though. My parents always knew I would. They use to tease me about some of the local farm boys. Your parents know you better than you know yourself. Never forget that. I always thought they were full of it. :)

I look at where a lot of my classmates and high school friends ended up and it's so interesting how everybody has gone their separate ways. Some have moved out of state. Started lives in a whole different world. Some have big families. I saw a fellow classmate of mine at a wedding a few weeks ago. He was following his 1 year old son around as we were talking about the upcoming reunion. It was fun watching him be a dad. Over all, I think everyone turned out pretty well. We all had to learn from our mistakes and figure out who we are as adults.

At first I wasn't going to go to my class reunion. We have a wedding we've been looking forward to and I thought, I still keep in touch with most through Facebook and stuff. Then it hit me that it would be kind of neat to see everyone in the same room again. I know some won't be able to make it due to being out of state or having to work. They'll definitely be missed. I can show up late. It'll be fine. The last time I spoke to some of my classmates we were teenagers. Tonight, I will be speaking to them as an adult. But as a kid at heart. Some things never change.